Hollows of Seireitei
by NadinLuciferHawk
Summary: A day like every else gets absolutely freaky out of a sudden with the arrival of two Shinigami in Ichigo's class. Odd strangers and presumed dead traitors appear inside Seireitei. What are their intentions and how could they intrude in the first place? Read to find out!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note  
**

This little piece is the FanFiction variant of the Comic my Sis did a few months ago and which is to be found here (warning! I had to pull the adress apart, otherwise I couldn't have written it here):

http

:/ /

dragonlordrynn.

deviantart.

com

/art/Cover-282501231

Enjoy reading this ^^

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Bleach. Tite Kubo does. However, I do own this FF and (somehow) the Comic as well.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Sweating buckets upon buckets Ichigo stood before the blackboard. His hand twitched subtly as he stared at the white chalk lines on the black wall before him. Somewhat helpless the hero of the Winter War looked to his left and locked eyes with the man standing there with an impossible huge smile etched on his face.

That man was only a few years older than him; had greyish unkempt hair that resembled a rat's fur, a goatee with similar qualities, rectangular glasses and wore a worn brown suit jacket with black trousers. He was kind, very obliging, fun-loving, sometimes messy and chaotic. Ichigo gulped and turned back to the blackboard. That guy could have been one of his best friends ever!

Two facts prevented this, though.

Firstly, that man was his teacher. Math, Physics and Chemistry teacher to be exactly. Mister Hiwatari – that was his name – also led the mechanics class.

The second problem were the incredible complicated and long equations he challenged his students with. The solution was always absolutely easy and striking, and had something to do with a movie, book or game. If only the equations weren't so friggin' long and complicated! Even the best of his class had to look hard for about ten minutes before he found the solution.

"So Mister Kurosaki?" his teacher spoke up, "What is x?"

Ichigo felt a river of sweat running down his neck. His lips trembled as he turned slowly to the teacher with a blank mind. He was about to admit defeat when he heard an outright familiar voice coming from the door.

"Excuse me, Mister Teacher…"

Ichigo felt his jaw dropping to the ground and his eyes widened when he recognised the red pineapple-like head of one of his best friends. His Shinigami friend Renji in a Gigai.

"We kind of need Ichigo" Renji said somewhat sheepishly.

"Oh, I'm afraid that will have to wait" Mister Hiwatari said. Looking to the great clock above the door he said: "Wait for twenty minutes, then you can have him."

"But it's kind of important!" Renji stammered. "We really…"

A white, slender hand lay down on Renji's broad shoulder. "Renji" the owner said. Ichigo's heart jumped again when he saw nobody else but Byakuya Kuchiki, captain of the sixth division of Seireitei and Renji's boss stepping from behind the tall redhead. "Let me do that" he said calmly.

Without awaiting any kind of reaction from the teacher or Ichigo's classmates the tall black-haired man entered, glancing only once at the blackboard that caused Ichigo so much trouble. He also ignored the fact that almost all of Ichigo's female classmates gasped at his obvious beauty. With a strong hand he grabbed the collar of the Substitute Shinigami and began to drag him out of the room.

"Oh, hey!" Mister Hiwatari called out after him: "You can't kidnap my disciples without them having solved…"

"42" Byakuya said calmly while dragging the stunned Ichigo out of the door.

"Eh… what?"

"42" the noble said again, "The solution to the equation."

The teacher blinked and looked at his solution sheet. "He's right."

Ichigo groaned inwardly. The answer to everything from 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. Could've thought about that.

-oo0oo-

Only about half an hour later he stood before the head of Seireitei and leader of all Shinigami: Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto. Behind him were all remaining nine division captains and all thirteen Vice-captains. Without the traitors Aizen, Gin and Tosen Seireitei was lacking in strong leadership.

Ichigo was feeling uneasy out of a sudden, feeling the gazes of the soul reapers digging into his back. Why was he called here? Was it something he did during the Winter War? Would he face his justice for all what he did in the past?

But the strawberry was always good at hiding his true feelings and especially his fear, so he retaliated with the first thing that popped into his mind: "Uhh… I do not mean to be disrespectful… but why did you have me dragged out from school? I had a few more classes to attend to."

The old, wrinkly and stern face in front of him relaxed out of a sudden, resembling more his – may god have mercy on his soul – grandfather than the ruthless leader of the Shinigami. "Allow me to answer that question with a question on my own."

A question? Ichigo tilted his head in confusion.

"Well, Kurosaki Ichigo" Yamamoto began, "Who did you fight when you came here to rescue Kuchiki Rukia?"

Ichigo felt his eyebrows rising almost to the point were they fell off his face.

"Now, Kurosaki Ichigo?" Yamamoto asked.

Ichigo looked down and began to think about his fights when he first set foot into Seireitei to rescue his friend. "Uh… Ikkaku… Renji… a whole bunch of the eleventh division… Sasakibe, Omaeda, Isane, Byakuya, Kenpachi…" Ichigo paused and thought again.

"And?" Yamamoto asked again, more friendly this time, "Who else?"

"Some more Shinigami… and Jidanbo." He looked up to the old Shinigami questioning. "Why are you asking me that, Yama-ji?"

Yamamoto deliberately overheard the 'Yama-ji' comment and asked anew: "Who did you defeat lastly?"

"Well… that was Aizen of course" Ichigo said, a little proud on himself for that feat.

"…And how does a Shinigami get his promotion?"

"Well… I heard…" Suddenly the realisation dawned to his mind. Jumping back several feet he pointed at the old man and shouted: "NO WAY IN HELL! YOU WANT TO MAKE ME A CAPTAIN!"

"Not 'want'" Yamamoto said friendly, "We already did."

Ichigo blinked at him and looked around the other Shinigami. Most of them were grinning broadly – with the exception of Byakuya, Toshiro and Izuru, but they never showed any emotion to begin with.

"Normally we would not ever allow a Substitute Shinigami – and a Visored containing a truly fearful and unstable Hollow within himself to top – to vest for any seat within Soul Society, and especially not such an important rank as a Captain…" Yamamoto cracked one eye open to look at the orange-haired youth in front of him. Even Hitsugaya Toshiro, the youngest of the Captains, was well over fifty mortal years old. Ichigo was an infant compared to them. Nevertheless the old man sighed out and said: "But you have done so much for Seireitei - no, for all of Soul Society - that his Lordship the King of Spirits decided to make an exception for you. And all of your fellow Captains agreed to that and gave you their vote – a feat no Shinigami has achieved until now."

Ichigo was still at loss. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but his brain was clogged worse than the kitchen sink last week. He could not grasp a single thought!

Yamamoto put on his best 'Grandfather' face and said warmly: "Welcome within Seireitei, Captain of the Fifth Division Kurosaki Ichigo."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Ichigo looked around in his office. Then he blinked at the ridiculousness of the situation. In the morning he was only a mere student – well, a student that had a second life as Substitute Shinigami – and only a few hours later he sat at _his_ desk in _his_ office looking at _his_ cupboard.

"Wow…" Ichigo muttered and looked down to where he placed Zangetsu at his desk. "They could have at least warned me about this…"

While Ichigo wondered how in the seven hells he was supposed to explain this to his dad and how he was supposed to juggle his life as newly-appointed Shinigami Captain and as a good high school student there was a soft knock on the door.

"Yeah?" Ichigo called out absent-minded.

The door slid open and a small blackhead looked in, bowed before him and came in.

"Oh, hello Momo" Ichigo said now more attentive. He noticed the white cloth Hinamori held in her small hands.

"Please, you are my Captain now, Kurosaki-taicho" she said timidly, "Here's your haori."

Ichigo could not help but feel a little distracted by that. Getting up he said: "Yeah, just leave it here…"

Momo obeyed and placed the haori down. "Do you need me for anything, Kurosaki-taicho?"

Ichigo scrunched his eyebrows and said: "Please Momo, don't call me 'taicho' – it makes me feel old and I never wanted to be a Captain in the first place!" He patted Momo's black hair and said smiling: "I'm only Ichigo, okay?"

"O-okay."

Looking down to Momo again Ichigo could not help but feel a little shocked at the way the girl looked up to him. Not like a person but more like a little dog awaiting to be praised. It made him hate Aizen even more. Just what had he done to the girl?

"Momo?" he began softly and Hinamori looked at him expectant. Again like a dog. Ichigo took a deep breath and said: "You are not a dog, Momo. You are a human… Shinigami" Momo blinked at him confused. "So act like one. I don't want to have a pet, I want to have a friend."

"I…I think I understand…"

"Good" Ichigo said smiling. "Now since that's clear, I have a task for you" He straightened up and looked out of the window. "Please collect all the paperwork…" He put on his haori before adding an angry: "AND BURN IT!"

-oo0oo-

Renji walked through the halls of the Fifth division. "Brings back memories" he muttered, aware of the fact that he had not been here for months.

But now Ichigo was the Captain here, and that was reason enough for a visit.

He found Captain Kurosaki in his office where he kneeled by a huge pile of paperwork.

"Hey Ichigo!" Renji called and crossed his arms while leaning against the door, "You're looking good."

"Yeah, I know" Ichigo muttered, "I'm busy. Go away."

Renji craned his neck but could not see whatever his friend was doing there. "What are you doing there anyways?"

Ichigo jumped up and whirled around, panicked as if he had been caught stealing from the cookie jar: "Me?!"

Suddenly the huge pile of paper spontaneously combusted.

Renji blinked and Ichigo stammered: "Uh… Nothing?"

Well… that was one way to deal with paperwork. Renji decided to memorize that.

Suddenly they heard hurried steps outside and someone shouted: "ABARAI! KUROSAKI!" The two turned confused to the door in the moment Hisagi tore it open. He was panting and obviously shocked. "You should come outside!"

Confused Renji and Ichigo looked at him for a moment before following their fellow Shinigami outside. Momo passed by pure chance and followed them quickly.

Ichigo quickly discovered several other Shinigami standing there, including some Captains, and they all stared up.

"What's this all about?" Renji asked confused.

Hisagi pointed at a roof and said: "Look for yourself!"

Ichigo, Renji and Momo followed Hisagi's outstretched finger and… their eyes widened in shock. The newly appointed Captain heard Renji whisper: "That… that is impossible!"

But if it were impossible, they would not see what they saw.

On the roof stood two men they thought they would never see again.

Gin Ichimaru and Tosen Kaname.

Both still wore the same clothes from back in Karakura. Tosen even had his Hollow Mask on while Gin – he was kneeling on the roof – had some weird shoulder plates with spikes protruding from it.

Gin smirked his familiar fox-like smirk at the sight of the shocked Shinigami below. Then he raised his hand and said: "Hiya. Missed us?"

-0-

Ichigo's mouth and throat went dry as he stared up to the two not really dead traitors.

"It's so nice to see ya guys again" Gin eventually drawled. "How nice! Everyone's there! Ran-chan, Kuchiki, Komamura, Zaraki, Shiro-chan and Izuru!" Then he caught glimpse of Ichigo standing between Renji, Momo and Rukia. "Well, well!" Gin said smirking, "Look at that, Tosen!"

A little piqued Tosen asked: "Look?!"

Gin turned to him as if remembering just now that his fellow traitor was indeed blind. "Oh, right. Sorry."

"TOSEN!" Komamura howled, "IS THAT REALLY YOU OR ARE YOU USING HIS SHAPE?!"

"I am the real Tosen Kaname" the traitor said calmly.

"IMPOSSIBLE! YOU WERE BOTH KILLED!"

Tosen sighed and grabbed the rim of his white clothes. "I was going to explain. It is true that we were dead… but we were revived…" He opened his clothes a little so everyone could see the fist-sized hole in his chest. "…As Arrancar."

Gin too had flipped open his shirt, revealing a hole as well. "Both of us, ya know" he said still smirking. Only now did Ichigo realise that the spikes on his shoulders were his Hollow Mask.

Suddenly there was a tremendous Reiatsu sweeping through the place. Yamamoto had arrived with Suì-Feng tailing him. "If you became the enemy…" he said and opened his eyes to look at the two Arrancar. "We will treat you as enemies. DESTROY THEM!"

Gin, however, was not really impressed by that. Instead he said: "Aww, no. Ya see, he went through so much trouble piecin' us together that he would become angry if ya killed us. And he's really scary when angry."

"WAIT!" Ichigo shouted and held the Captain of the Second Division back, "WHO IS HE?!"

Gin smirked again and cracked his eyes open. The white in his eyes had turned black, which brought out the icy blue of his iris. "Tell ya what" he said sneering, "If ya catch us, we'll tell ya."

With that he and Tosen disappeared.

"Wow!" Ichigo said surprised, "They are fast!"

"SPREAD OUT AND FIND THEM!" Suì-Feng barked at her subordinates.

While everyone was hastily spreading out to find and eliminate the two Arrancar-turned traitors, Hitsugaya went over to Byakuya. "Captain Kuchiki" the small white-haired Captain began, "Did you sense their Reiatsu?"

"Yes" the noble said, "It is much too dark for a normal Hollow. Also I wonder how they managed to get here without us notice" He turned to Hitsugaya and said: "We do not know what is going on, so we should be really careful when dealing with them."

"Understood."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Two pairs of feet hit a clay brick roof for a fleeting moment before continuing to travel across the now empty streets of Seireitei.

Everything was silent around them except for the sounds of their own feet.

"Hey Tosen?" Gin eventually said and figured to stop on a circular open place.

"What, Gin?" the blind man asked.

"With us bein' traitors an' all, shouldn't the Second be on our asses already?" Gin said. Whirling his arms around he said: "But I don' see anyone!"

In the next moment he and Tosen were enclosed by several Shinigami and kept in check with Zanpakutos on their necks by Hisagi, Matsumoto, Komamura, Kira and Hitsugaya.

"Oh"

Tosen sighed out and said: "You had to say something, Ichimaru."

"Oh yeah, sorry."

The Captain of the Tenth Division looked up to the silver-haired Arrancar. "Now we caught you" Hitsugaya said calmly, as if nothing would ever unsettle him. "Tell us who 'he' is and why you came here!"

Gin regained his usual smirk and said: "Why don't ya ask him that ya'selves?" Nodding his head towards a golden roof he added: "He has been watching the whole time!"

Ichigo – like several of the other Shinigami – directed his gaze to where Gin was pointing. There was indeed something, something white, and for a perfect second he thought of it as Hollow.

But when he realised what the mysterious 'he' was, he could not help but feel a little let down. Turning back to Ichimaru he said dryly: "_That_ is a sheep."

The animal flicked an ear and looked down in some sort of annoyance – if an animal could feel annoyance – that sent the silver pendant around its neck jingling. "It is hurtful to say such a thing. I am clearly a goat, not a sheep."

Silence.

Silence.

Then: "RAAAAAAAAAH! IT TALKED!"

-0-

This day threatened to become worse. First Ichigo burnt his tongue on his coffee this morning, then he was suddenly promoted to a Captain and now there was a _fucking talking_ albino goat! And it sounded stuck-up like Byakuya to top!

The goat, however, ignored the shocked Shinigami. Turning to its subordinates – can one say that? – it said: "What about you two? I thought I said explicitly this was a simple pick-up-mission. And now you got yourself caught."

"Sorry Boss" Gin and Tosen said.

Boss? They call that goat boss?

The goat chuckled, making Ichigo wonder how that was possible. "Ah, never mind. It seems as if they want to do it the hard way…"

In the next moment the animal jumped down, but when its hooves hit the paved ground, the goat had transformed into a man. He had piercing red eyes, goat horns and hooves on his feet, a white serpent tail and six massive spikes on his back, white hair and a black coat, white shirt and black slacks. The silver pendant was still dangling from his neck and there were heavy silver rings around his wrists.

"I am not really an advocate for violence, mind you" the mysterious goat-man said, "So I am giving you one last chance…" He leaned forwards and his piercing red eyes dug into the Shinigami before him. "Where… is Sozuke Aizen?"

So that is why they came here… this thought raced through everyone's head and the shocked stares turned into enraged glaring directed at the strange man.

The man sighed, his serpent tail smacked sluggish onto the ground as he said: "Obviously you do not want to talk about this…" he grinned and pointed fangs became visible underneath his pale lips: "In that case I will have to use violence."

The air around him became cold out of a sudden. Lifting his head he directed his next words at his subordinates: "Gin, Tosen. _Release_."

Gin only shrugged his shoulders and said: "Ya the boss."

Shocked Hitsugaya witnessed how Gin's arm he held in a deadlock was suddenly washed over with Reiatsu.

"KIRA!" he shouted, "He'll release! Stop him!"

But Kira was too distracted.

"KIRA!"

It was too late and Ichimaru evaded the three holding him by turning into something like whitish-blue flames and reared up, escaping their grasp and kicking Kira to the ground before jumping over to where his master was.

Tosen on the other hand jerked his neck away, went into a crouch and was suddenly transformed when he too jumped out of Komamura's reach.

The Shinigami stared in disbelieve. They had released extremely fast and not very flashy, giving them no chance to adjust themselves.

Rukia whispered: "No… Every Arrancar we fought until now… had a human appearance! But these things…"

Everyone stared at the two released Arrancar crouching before their master. Gin had turned into a fox-like beast with three tails and spikes on his mask, while Tosen was a humanoid, eyeless demon. Both snarled at the collected Shinigami.

"…ARE NOT HUMAN AT ALL!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Petrified with horror Ichigo stared at the not-quite human Arrancar which had been Gin Ichimaru and Tosen Kaname only moments ago. Gin waved his three tails from side to side like a cat on the jump while Tosen dug his claw like nails – which were on the end of spidery long arms – into the ground below.

"Fuck" Ichigo eventually said, "Who is this guy? And what did he do?"

"HUMAN OR NOT!" Renji yelled and drew his Zanpakuto, which he immediately changed into Shikai state. "I'LL JUST USE BANKAI!"

"Hold it right there" the strange man ordered. Smirking at the redheaded Shinigami he said: "How about we play this game a little more… on the expert mode? Without you using Bankai?"

"Let's see about that!" Renji roared and attacked the white-haired snake-tailed man, "BANKAI! HIHIO ZABIMARU!"

Reiatsu flared up all around him, flowing over his Zanpakuto and… nothing happened! Zabimaru stayed in the Shikai mode.

"HOLY SHIT! HE'S DONE IT!"

"Told you."

Gin turned his spiked mask towards his new master and asked: "Boss, are ya just foolin' around or are ya goin' to do somethin'?" That surprised the Shinigami as well, since they had not expected the Hollows to be able to speak.

"Right" the white-haired man said. Turning on his heel he waved at his Hollows and said: "Be good boys and distract them while I go and get Aizen."

"WHAT?!"

Ichigo saw his chance, drew Zangetsu and jumped towards them, sword raised over his head and Reiatsu collecting around the edges. "GETSUGA TEN…" and smacked right into an invisible wall.

While the new captain of the Fifth slid down the invisible wall and fell to the ground holding his bleeding – and perhaps broken nose – the strange man lowered his clawed hand and said calmly: "Relax. I was joking. It would be best to smooth this out first."

Gin sniffed and muttered: "Sometimes I hate 'im."

Tosen nodded and sighed: "Me too, Ichimaru. Me too."

"Enough of this!" Yamamoto yelled, "End this nonsense!"

"Uh-oh" Gin said, "Look at that, Kaname"

"LOOK?!"

"Right… sorry" The fox-like Hollow glared at the 7 Captains, 6 Vice-Captains and two additional Shinigami.

Huffing out Tosen said what went through Gin's head: "This mission appears suicidal."

Gin shrugged his shoulders, which was clearly visible thanks to the massive spikes protruding from them. "Ah, what the hell. Do ya want to live forever?"

"Well actually…"

Reiatsu swirled again around the fox as he roared: "I'LL GO FIRST!"

Gin jumped towards the Shinigami. Hitsugaya retaliated and went to the front himself, stating: "I will take on Ichimaru. We need more information."

However, in the moment he brought Hyorinmaru over, Gin had already turned into a blue flame version of himself and was split into two fox-fire foxes when hitting the edge of the Captain's Zanpakuto. Hitsugaya turned around where now two flaming foxes – one with one and one with two tails – stood behind him and growled at him dangerously. "…Shit..."

-0-

Hisagi widened his eyes and drew his own Zanpakuto. "CAPTAIN!" he shouted over where the small white-head was suddenly facing with two enemies at once.

Suddenly he felt something behind him and someone said: "Don't get distracted!"

Hisagi brought his weapon up just in the nick of time before his Ex-Captain's claws could dig into him.

Narrowing his eyes he asked: "Why did you warn me, Tosen?"

The demonic being jumped away from him before answering: "I have no intentions of hurting any of you."

Narrowing his eyes Hisagi inquired: "Then why do you fight, Captain?"

"We have no choice" the demonic Hollow said and turned his attention over to where his master brought down Komamura without any effort. "He controls us."

"How?"

"He has power, Shuhei, but I do not know the full extent of it. The boss allows us free will as long as we do his biddings, otherwise…" He lifted his lips in a snarl: "…he'd simply controls us like puppets. And if we get killed, he brings us back to life."

"In other words…" Byakuya suddenly said when he appeared next to the hollowfied Ex-Captain, "We only need to defeat him in order to end this nonsense."

"DID ANYONE TELL YOU IT'S RUDE TO LISTEN TO SOMEONE ELSE'S CONVERSATION?!"

-0-

The strange man looked smirking down to the massive wolf he just felled like a tree.

"Bad boy. Stay down" he said, adding insult to injury.

In the next moment he noted Byakuya appearing behind him, Senbonzakura ready to strike him down. But when the noble's sword reached his enemies' position, the sword whooshed only through thin air.

"Hm, not bad" the man said, standing suddenly behind Byakuya.

"How did…" Byakuya thought truly shocked for the first time in years.

Suddenly the man jumped at him, digging his hard goat-hooves into the noble's back and pulled on his very expansive scarf like on a horse's reigns, forcing the Captain of the Sixth down and planted his face into the dirt below. "But not good enough!"

Byakuya – despite the rather unfortunate situation he was in – was glad that he was face-down in the dirt. That way nobody could hear him cursing.

"Wow…" Ichigo muttered, "That was really degrading."

"CAPTAIN!" Renji yelled and attacked, intending on knocking the man off his Captain's back and to clobber him into oblivion.

"Hmph. You are too close for my taste. So just let us create some distance" With his free hand he reached for Senbonzakura's hilt he held with his tail. Getting hold of the weapon he activated the blade's special ability.

"Bankai"

An array of huge blades grew from the ground behind the white-haired man.

Renji and all others stopped dead in their advance and the man smirked.

"Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

The blades fell apart in the familiar way of Byakuya's technique. Only this time the thousand small and smallest blades were black and not pink. Like a hurricane they gushed towards the Shinigami.

"HOLY SHIT!" Ichigo shouted, "RETREAT! RETREAT!"

Quickly they all jumped back several feet, watching the black blossom blades swirling lazily around the white-haired man that still kept Byakuya underneath him effortlessly.

"Damn it!" Renji cursed, "That is Senbonzakura, all right. But why is it all black – and why in the seven hells can this guy use it anyways?!"

"Whoever… _whatever_ he is… his dark Reiatsu allows him to use and alter our Bankai" Hitsugaya muttered. "This is bad."

"But he blocked Bankai!"

"Obviously only for us."

"Ah, shit!"

The man was still smirking confident. Confident enough to let Senbonzakura disappear. Turning his gaze towards Yamamoto who stood behind his Shinigami the man asked: "Hey, old man. You said before that whoever became the enemy would be treated as enemy, correct?"

Yamamoto scrunched his eyebrows while the rest of the Shinigami drew a sharp breath in. The man kneeled down to the still immobilized Kuchiki and said smirking in a really unpleasant way while one of his clawed hands stroke over the noble's hair in a twisted gesture of kindness: "Let's see what you will do if I make this one the enemy."

In the next moment a massive blow-out of Reiatsu shot up all around the two men. The Reiatsu was dark and powerful enough to nauseate everyone there. A true storm that forced the Shinigami to cover their eyes from flying dirt.

Inside the Reiatsu flared up Kuchiki's for a moment before it twisted into a darker version of itself.

When the Reiatsu storm ebbed away and Rukia looked again she asked confused: "Nii-sama?"

Then her eyes widened and she screamed: "NII-SAMA! NO!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Ichigo widened his eyes. He sensed everyone else acting like that as well, with incredulity, shock and anger.

"NII-SAMA!" Rukia screamed again, tears of panic welling up in her dark eyes. And Renji began to shake with anger.

"Captain…" he muttered on the verge of wrath. "He… Captain Kuchiki…"

"Hmmm… Wings. Handy that" the stranger said from where he kneeled on Kuchiki's back. Suddenly his face twisted into a true sadistic smirk and massive fangs became visible. "This unexpected turn can be used to our advantage. Gin! Tosen! Change of plan, I'll improve your movement speed. We'll make a run for the prison!"

Tugging harder on Byakuya's heirloom he said smirking: "Get up, Kuchiki!"

Ichigo felt his own anger rising when Byakuya moved again.

"The bastard…" Renji growled. "He turned Kuchiki-taicho into a fucking _Hollow_!"

"But… but how?"

Byakuya was no longer the noble they all knew so well. Right now he was a terrible bird-of-prey like hollow with white and black plumage. His mask was also black and white, and carried several spikes and a pair of gemsbok horns. A massive black feather ruff was all that remained behind from his usually silky black hair. Sharp teeth were in the maws of the beast.

Most disturbing were his eyes, however. They looked like round gems and there were eleven of them: three red ones on the top of his bird head and four green ones on either side of his head.

"Fucking No!" Renji screamed and shouted: "Captain! Get yourself together again!"

The hollowfied Captain retaliated by blasting a powerful Cero at them.

"Renji!" Ichigo shouted and brought his sword in front of him as some sort of shield: "Get that guy!"

Renji nodded and jumped together with Rukia at the white-haired man crouching on Byakuya's back. "Damn you!"

However, before they could land a hit, Byakuya swung himself and the white-haired puppeteer into the air high above the ground.

"Go on. Try to stop me, foolish spirits" the man laughed. Turning his head towards the ground of the second division he said smirking: "Now, let's get ourselves a certain Aizen…"

-oo0oo-

High above Seireitei the strange man was flying on his unwilling Hollow mount. Smirking he said: "This is going very well."

Down below him were several Shinigami running, trying to catch up with the flying foe. They had lost sight on Tosen and Gin some time ago, and honestly, they did also not care about that.

"Damn it!" Suì-Feng cursed, "I hate this running around! We have to get closer somehow!"

"But he's all the way up there!" Yumichika wailed, "And we can't use Bankai, so Captain Hitsugaya can't fly either!"

Ichigo looked up to the huge white bird of prey. Then he realised something. Turning to the Captain of the Second he said: "How about I throw you?"

"THROW ME?!"

"Yes. I'll hurl you up there with Zangetsu. You are able to kill a foe with only two hits, and you are also not really… big" Suì-Feng growled at him, but Ichigo quickly carried on: "It worked with Rukia, and he won't be expecting that!"

As much as the ninja disliked the idea of being degraded to a projectile, she saw the idea behind that. Because of that Suì-Feng sighed and hissed: "All right. Let's do that."

Ichigo smirked and drew Zangetsu, signalling for the ninja to hop on. Once she did that, Ichigo asked: "Ready?"

"Ready!"

Swinging Zangetsu with all his might, Ichigo hurled Suì-Feng into the direction of the fleeing enemy.

His aim was true and Suì-Feng attached herself to the Hollow Byakuya's neck, surprising both the Hollow and his master, earning a panicked squawking from her transformed colleague.

"Ground Control! The Enemy shot a Ninja at us!"

"As far as I am concerned, you are the enemy!" the ninja hissed angrily, bringing Suzumebachi forwards. "Nigeki Kessatu!"

Suì-Feng truly managed to hit the man once on the right side of his chest when she found her wrist trapped in an iron-hard grasp. She gasped shocked when she suddenly stared directly into the piercing red eyes of the man.

"Death in Two Steps, heh!" he said smirking, "You are brave, but stupid… or did you have forgotten what I did to your fellow captain?"

In the next moment Suì-Feng felt the man's dark Reiatsu flaring again and she wanted to stab him again before he managed to turn her into a Hollow as well… only then she heard the hollowfied Kuchiki scream out and thought she heard a desperate 'Flee' in that scream.

The Hollow bird bucked up and kicked her hard, detaching her from his neck and sending her tumbling down.

As the wind rushed past her and the ground grew ever closer Suì-Feng cursed: "SHIT! WHY CAN'T I FLY WHEN I NEED IT?!"

Luckily for her she landed relatively softly in Kira Izuru's arms.

"Kira!" she heard Hisagi shout, "I wanted to be the hero!"

But there was still something feeling weird about her, as if something covered her face, and her Reiatsu was acting up. Not to mention that Kira and Hisagi stared at her in utter shock. "Ugh…" the Captain groaned, "Is there something in my face?"

"H…Hollow Mask!" the two yelled. Indeed Suì-Feng's face from the tip of her nose downwards was covered with a white mask, not unsimilar to a ninja's cowl, only with spikes on the rim. Her eyes were black and purple.

"WHAT?!" Suì-Feng cried, tearing open her shirt much to the two men's surprise and shock. She became much more relaxed when she did not see any holes anywhere. "No Hollow Hole…" she breathed.

"He made you a Visored, just like that" Ichigo said when he approached Suì-Feng. "This is really bad…"

"We need to change our approach, then" Hitsugaya commented when he too came towards Ichigo. "He can transform and corrupt us into hollows with a single touch, this is too little time to prepare a sound counter-attack… and attacking head-on is too dangerous, too."

Looking up the now Visored Suì-Feng said: "I hit him once again. Once more and this whole…"

"No!" Yamamoto suddenly barked. "He is too dangerous. I shall deal with this man on my own!" His Zanpakuto appeared out of his walking cane and began to blaze on its edges.

Rukia realised what the old Shinigami was trying and cried: "NO, CAPTAIN-COMMANDER! NII-SAMA IS…!"

"We have no other choice!" Yamamoto replied coldly, "His sacrifice shall bring honour to the Kuchiki clan!"

"NO!" Ichigo, Renji and Rukia cried again. But it was too late.

"Reduce All Creation To Ash, _Ryujin Jakka_!"

A massive firestorm appeared out of nowhere and closed in dangerously fast on the strange man and his transformed, unwilling Hollow. But the only reaction the man showed was to raise one perfectly arched eyebrow and saying: "It appears things… are getting hot."

Then the hellish flames of the General's Zanpakuto devoured the two figures.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The heavy stench of burning hair and feathers hung like a blanket over this part of Seireitei. Nobody dared to say anything, they only stared up to where the ball of fire was just fading away.

White and black feathers rained down.

Rukia fell to her knees while tears ran freely from her eyes. "Nii-sama… No…" she whispered. One hand clutched a white feather and grabbed it so hard that the knuckles on her hand turned white.

"Brother…"

Yamamoto looked at the crying girl across from him with unreadable face. But eventually he looked up and said: "I'm sorry, Ginrei."

"DAMN IT!" Ichigo shouted and stomped over to the old man. "DID YOU HAVE TO KILL BYAKUYA TOO?!"

"There was no other way."

Anger welled up in Ichigo. He did never like Byakuya much, but he too was a friend – sort of – and more importantly, he hated seeing Rukia cry.

The only thing that kept Ichigo from smashing his fist into Yamamoto's face, however, was the sharp sound of hooves against stone and an annoyed: "Aww, old man. You torched my bird!"

Rukia looked slowly up to the black-clothed man. Anger welled up in her and red hazed over her vision. She did not care about the fact that the hollowfied Gin and Tosen had appeared next to the man out of nowhere and that the strange man had not a single scratch on himself – neither his black clothes nor his hair were singed even though he had been closest to Byakuya when he…

Rukia wiped the tears away and swallowed the lump in her throat. "You…!" she hissed angrily. Whipping out Sode no Shirayuki she attacked the taller man without hesitation, screaming: "YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!"

The man, however, stopped the white blade effortlessly with his hand. "I did not kill him, little spirit" he said nonchalantly, "Your general did the flaming."

"RUKIA!" Renji and Ichigo shouted and jumped to her rescue.

"Besides…" the man said in the same moment the two over-sized Zanpakutos hit a slim, familiar blade. It was Senbonzakura, wielded by no-one else but the Hollow Byakuya, only this time he had a humanoid body, armoured, clawed hands and feet and no wings. "He is not dead. Did you really think I would create my subordinates this fragile?"

Byakuya screeched sharply at the two Shinigami before kicking them hard away. Rukia – afraid of the other three – ducked under her brother's talon and ran to her friends.

The man glared over the Shinigami and said: "I had kind of hoped we could have come to terms, but obviously you spirits do not understand any other way than fighting. So we will fight."

"Toshiro!" Ichigo hissed when he forced himself up again. Byakuya's kick really hurt.

"Captain…!"

"Toshiro! We need a plan! Any ideas?"

The child prodigy narrowed his eyes and looked at the three Hollows and the serpent-tailed man. "The best way is to take them on in groups. Kurosaki, Abarai and Kuchiki will fight Kuchiki-san."

"Oi, use their first names at least."

"Matsumoto, Kira and me will take on Ichimaru while Captain Komamura and Hisagi take care of Tosen. The rest – Yamamoto Genryusai, Captain Zaraki, Madarame, Ayasegawa and Captain Suì-Feng – try to bring their boss down. Try to avoid physical contact as much as…" the white-haired Shinigami stopped, paused and said: "Yes, I am aware of the irony of sending Melee fighters after him."

"Who cares?!" Kenpachi roared, "This is a good idea! LET'S FIGHT!"

This was answered by a loud screeching roar from the hollowfied Byakuya.

"Ya right, Kuchiki" Gin said, "Let's fight!"

The two parties smashed against each other in a violent battle.

-oo0oo-

The serpent-tailed man dodged an attack thrown at him by Suì-Feng. He kicked her roughly away with his goat hooves before whirling around and headbutting Ikkaku using his horns.

Straightening back up he huffed out and said: "This is not going as it should."

Quickly he dodged another attack from Kenpachi, dropped down to all fours and was suddenly in his goat shape again to jump away from the consecutive strike.

"This is beginning to make too much trouble!"

However, suddenly he felt something and only saw a shadow closing in on him. A heavy weight threw itself at the white goat and he shouted: "BAAAAH! - I mean AAAAGH!"

The goat turned an eye at Ikkaku Madarame who held him up by his horns. "Gotcha, bitch!"

Yumichika smirked as well and asked: "Any last words, _sheep_?"

Only then it was the goat-man's time to smirk: "Of course. 'You two will be perfectly for my needs'."

In the moment when it dawned to the two Division Eleven members what the man meant, he had turned back into his human shape and slammed his hand down. The ground broke and several red clawed hands shot out from the cracks in the ground.

"Too late" the man said when Ikkaku and Yumichika failed to outrun the hands and were caught.

In the moment the two hit the ground, dust whirled up from the dark Reiatsu enshrouding the two unlucky Shinigami.

"Perfect" the man said purring. "Now get up boys."

Ichigo felt his blood run cold again when he saw his now hollowfied Shinigami friends.

"No way in hell…" he muttered, "Not again!"

Yumichika was an armoured humanoid with bird feet and a similar black ruff around his neck like Byakuya had. A bird-like mask covered the upper part of his face including his eyes. Perhaps he did not have any eyes at all – at least not in his head. Nine long peacock-feathers grew from his back and the eyes sat at the end of them, and when they all moved to look at Ichigo, he felt somewhat freaked out.

Ikkaku on the other hand resembled a big mechanic beast, a robot perhaps, mounted on a unit with four legs. He was entirely made from what looked like white steel with red trims. A single blue eye was in the middle of his head.

Yumichika made a growling noise while Ikkaku turned against the Shinigami with a heavy clanking sound. Their new master got up, patted down his pants and said smirking: "Now crush them, my pets."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

With the two newly hollowfied Shinigami joining the fight, the favors were tilting badly towards the intruder's side.

Smirking the man crossed his arms and watched his Hollows ransacking the ranks of the Shinigami. They were more powerful than any normal Hollow, making it really difficult for the defenders to keep up.

"Well, this day seems to brighten up already!" the man said. Uncrossing his arms he said: "Now I can…" A dark, frightening presence appeared behind him and he ended: "…Defend myself against a Barbarian Onslaught."

A massive, jagged Katana split the ground where the man had been only seconds ago. Angrily snarling he shouted: "What are you trying to pull, you Neanderthal?! I do not want to fight against you, I want the old man!"

"Sorry, can't do that" Kenpachi growled. Nodding his head towards the battlefield he huffed: "The thing ya pulled with Kuchiki was a nice touch… but makin' my own men Hollow is pissin' me off!"

"What are you going to do about that, hillbilly?"

The Captain smirked again, showing off his fangs when he said: "I figured I simply smash ya until ya sing small and change my boys back!"

Sighing out the horned man growled: "Like I said, I do not wish to fight you. There's no… beauty in the way you fight" Snapping his fingers he summoned yet another Hollow to his position, only this time it was a huge one. "So here's someone who wants!"

Kenpachi looked up at the massive beast, feeling his Zanpakuto shiver at the massive Reiatsu the beast radiated. It was a bird-like one again, with a serpentine tail, thick armour plates and a shaggy black mane. Its eyes were in the alula region of the giant wings and the face itself was a scary mask of a tranquil woman's face.

"I think you two will get along just perfectly" the man said as he disappeared from sight.

But Kenpachi did not care about that, instead he smirked up to the giant human-faced bird and said: "Oh goody, a big one."

The berserker did not wait for the giant beast to make its first move. Instead he jumped and brought his already jagged sword down against the beasts' tranquil face, making the beast shudder from the strength of the impact. Other than that, however, there was no reaction.

"Ha!" Zaraki shouted, "Ya good! I barely put a scratch on ya!"

Then he prepared for impact as the bird smashed its tail down. This was going to be a damn good fight!

-oo0oo-

Yamamoto watched the battle raging below his position with unreadable face. He did not turn at the sound of a soft voice somewhere behind him.

"Isn't it marvellous? All this mayhem?"

"Marvellous?" the old Shinigami questioned and turned his head slightly as the serpent-tailed intruder stepped next to him. "All this destruction and suffering?"

"Indeed. Beautiful isn't it?"

Narrowing his eyes at the younger the Captain asked: "Who are you that you dare to come here, challenge all of us and turn three of our men into Hollows and make them fight against their friends and family?!"

"I would not have needed to do so if you had given me Aizen in the moment I asked for him" Facing the old man he added: "All that happened here is only your fault."

Turning back to the fight below them they watched the transformed Shinigami fighting heatedly against the others. Out of the corner of his eye Yamamoto saw a feral smirk coming to the man's lips. "But I already suspected this, so I had to do a little something first before I came to my servant's aid…" The next sentence made Yamamoto's blood run cold: "I do not control three of your men… I control _seven_."

"What?!"

The heat around them started to climb to unbearable heights when the Shinigami's Reiatsu flared wildly, summoning forth hellish flames. But the man was unaffected and asked coldly: "Getting angry, are we?"

With a single swing of his sword Yamamoto sent a massive stream of fire against the intruder. He narrowed his eyes even further when he saw the man unscathed, playing with an orb of his fire between his clawed hands.

"I'm sorry, old man. Fire won't work on me."

-oo0oo-

Ichigo suffered a heavy kick against his chest with a clawed feet but somehow managed to flip away before a Cero could blast him. Scrambling to his feet he cursed under his breath. "Shit! Without Bankai I couldn't defeat Byakuya before – and now he's even worse! And where the fuck is Momo?!"

Not to mention that the promised reinforcements had still not arrived!

The hollowfied Byakuya screeched at him, taunting and daring him to come at him again.

"CAPTAIN KUROSAKI!" Ichigo heard and turned his head slightly at the sight of the tall Lieutenant Isane.

"Isane? What are you doing here? It's too dangerous!"

"Please!" the woman said, "Something happened back in the fourth barracks and now I'm…" Suddenly she discovered the giant woman-faced bird attacking Zaraki Kenpachi again. "CAPTAIN UNOHANA! STOP!" she shouted desperate.

"What?!" Ichigo yelled, "That Hollow… is Unohana?!"

Kenpachi obviously did not hear that and attacked again, but in the moment his sword was down again, the hollowfied Unohana cracked open the Glasgow-smile like cracks on her tranquil mask and opened up her maws, revealing rows upon rows of needle-like teeth inside. With that she snapped after Kenpachi and managed to grasp his arm.

Rearing up she hurled the Captain of the Eleventh division like a rag doll away from her and towards Ichigo and Isane.

"Kenpachi!" Ichigo called out.

Much to his relieve, however, the brute was still alive and well. Looking at his now heavily damaged arm he said madly: "Haha! Did ya see that? One bite and my arm's shit!" Getting back to his feet he added: "I'm going in again! This is too fucking perfect!"

Without objection the two let Kenpachi go again.

Ichigo felt anger and despair welling up inside him once more. He saw Hisagi facing off with Yumichika, saw Suì-Feng and Matsumoto getting almost crushed by Ikkaku and realised that Renji was evading a certain death-blow from Byakuya. And now Unohana tried to kill Kenpachi.

This was too much. Ichigo might not be able to use his Bankai, but there was still something he could do. Admittedly he was somewhat afraid of having to fall back on that, since something broke loose during his battle with Ulquiorra, but there was no other way.

"Damnit Ichigo!" Rukia cried and supported a limping Renji, "Get away! Nii-sama's…!"

"Renji, Rukia and Isane…" the new Captain of the Fifth growled, "You get away and keep your distance" He brought his free hand up to his face in a familiar gesture. "I'm going Visored on them."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Feeling the familiar rush of dark Reiatsu overflowing his body, Ichigo mentally prepared himself. It had been months since he used this, too afraid of losing control and turning into… that… the beast that destroyed Ulquiorra and almost killed Uryu.

But now he was ready for it. Ichigo knew he would have to use everything to stop the serpent-tailed stranger.

Down behind him Rukia let go of Renji and said: "I've seen this only a few times, but every time he kicked ass."

"Let's hope it will be enough…" They arched their necks and their eyes widened comically at what happened before them. "…to…uh…"

"Rukia-chan…?" Isane began slowly, "Could… could he do that… before?"

"Uh… no…?"

Ichigo on the other hand blinked in confusion at seeing everything… smaller than before. Not to mention that he heard his friends crying out in panic.

"What's the matter?" he asked confused, "Did you never see me Visored before?"

"VISORED YES…" they shouted, "BUT NOT HOLLOW!"

Only now did it dawn to Ichigo that something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.

Looking down Ichigo did not see a pair of sandal-clad human feet but rather a reptilian foot with huge claws and his arms were wings.

"HOLY MOLY!" Ichigo yelled and jumped back, almost crushing Renji and Rukia because of not being able to judge his own body size compared with his environment. After another moment of shock and confusion the strawberry had finally recognised himself. He was now a winged dragon with a toothed Hollow hole in the middle of his chest. Oddly enough his right side was covered with black while his left side was covered with white scales. A black chain hung around his neck, right above a tuft of orange fur.

Only a split-second later he also noticed that he had _two _heads.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" someone laughed besides him and Ichigo whirled his horned dragon head over to see another like himself right left of him. Only this one had a black mask with a white stripe and not a white one with a black stripe. His neck had a white tuft of fur and a white chain as opposing that of his counterpart. Only now did Ichigo also see that only his wing had a red membrane. That of his 'other side' had a blue one. That side was also less colourful than 'his' one.

"You are still an idiot, King!" his second head jeered, pulling the corners of his mouth up into a really twisted, draconic smirk.

"YOU?!" Ichigo cried at the recognition of his Hollow counterpart.

"Me, king!" the dark Ichigo sneered. Narrowing his eight golden eyes the dragon said: "And you still have not understood what is going on."

Narrowing his own eight golden eyes Ichigo decided to care about his little beauty problem later. "What have I not understood, Hollow?"

"Simply the reason why all of the Hollows are so little human" Turning to face his Shinigami side the Hollow added: "And why you are what you are right now." Nodding towards the rising pillars of fire the Hollow carried on: "It's him. His dark Reiatsu is neither that of a Hollow nor a Shinigami, it is older and darker than that. His presence alone turns Arrancar – and Visoreds – into monsters!" Pausing again the white Ichigo added: "Like he did with your friends. And like he unconsciously did to you!"

Ichigo glared at his white counterpart a little longer. The other chuckled and said: "I know that you want to defeat him and save your little friends – but you can not do it without me!" Roaring in laughter the Hollow continued: "Face it King! You need me!"

Ichigo huffed out in defeat. "Alright. Then let's do this… Renji! Rukia! Let us take back our friends!"

But this was more complicated than originally thought, though. While Ichigo was still thinking about how the fuck he was supposed to fight – his legs were not made for fast running and his arms could never ever hold a sword (not to mention that he did not see Zangetsu anywhere) – he heard the typical static sound of a Sonido right behind him. Ichigo had only time to turn his head slightly to recognise Senbonzakura closing in on him quickly.

However, before the blade could hit him, he felt his body whirling around. A powerful wing appeared before Byakuya and forced him back.

"Don't slack off, Idiot!" the dark Ichigo scolded him. "You are too slow, Ichigo! He would have cut off your head and you wouldn't even have noticed it!"

"WHAT?! Looking frantically around Ichigo shouted: "But I don't see Zangetsu anywhere! And even if he did, I couldn't use my Zanpakuto! How am I supposed to fight then?!"

Hollow Ichigo had obviously enough of this nonsense. Swinging his – no, their – tail forwards he hit Ichigo hard over his head.

"OW! Why are you hitting me?!"

"Because you are an idiot! You ain't a Shinigami anymore, so stop fighting like one!"

Renji and Rukia stared at the drama unfolding without a word.

"They are both idiots" Renji eventually concluded.

"Obviously you won't learn from seeing alone!" Dark Ichigo shouted, attracting their attention once more, "So I'll just show ya!"

He swung his head back, sending the chain around his neck jingling. Then he leashed out and unleashed a fire stream at Byakuya. Ichigo noticed that it was actually their Cero, it only looked like fire.

Byakuya evaded easily, but in the next moment the huge double-headed dragon used a Sonido of his own and jumped behind the bird-warrior. Using his sharp-edged wing as substitute for their sword, Hollow Ichigo managed to land a hit on Byakuya's shoulder and made the smaller Hollow bleed.

Byakuya jumped away and held his bleeding shoulder.

"See, King? Now you try."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A huge blade dug into the ground and split the paved road. Tosen landed a few feet behind it on his spidery limbs. Even though he could not see a thing, he had some sort of Reiatsu radar, enabling him to 'see' his surrounding.

In front of him stood Komamura with a disappointed face. He was disappointed about his old friend.

"Despite not using Bankai, Sajin is still a danger" Tosen thought and curled his lips into a snarl. Casting a glance over he saw Hisagi facing off with Yumichika, and the man had some troubles dealing with the Tengu-like Hollow. Not to mention that Hisagi was clearly bewildered by the fact, that Yumichika had nine eyes at the end of four feet long peacock feathers.

"Hisagi is occupied… good. Then I will have to deal with my old friend… somehow…"

Komamura sensed his old friend's distress and lifted his sword, bringing the giant sword which was his Shikai up as well. As long as the reinforcements did not arrive, they had to keep the hollowfied Shinigami in check somehow.

One question did remain, however. Where in the seven hells were the reinforcements anyway? Shouldn't they have arrived long time ago?

"Tosen!" Komamura barked, deciding to wonder about reinforcements later, "Get ready!"

Suddenly both felt a strange, dark Reiatsu closing in quickly on their position. It felt familiar somehow, but it was twisted to the point of not being recognisable.

Komamura's sensitive ears picked up a sharp clinking sound and suddenly his Zanpakuto broke, and with it the giant Shikai blade.

"What?!" the wolf called out in surprise. Looking forwards he gasped and growled: "Another one?!"  
The figure standing between him and Tosen looked more human than any other of the stranger's Hollows. It turned and revealed a skinny, grey-skinned humanoid creature covered in long black robes. The face was only skeletal, with pale blue glowing eyes and dirty grey strands of hair poking out from under the robes. It was impossible to say whether it was male or female. And the two sets of horns, the lion-like tail and goat legs did not help in any way to determine who the newly arrived Hollow was.

With the giant scythe it wielded it looked like a crazy mixture of a devil and the death.

Komamura growled again. Jumping at the dark-clad Hollow he shouted: "I'm getting sick of this! Stop screwing around!"

But in the moment his hands reached the Hollow the beast dispersed into black haze and flew past the giant wolf – only to reappear right behind him and slashing his back open with its wicked scythe, sending the large Captain to the ground. While it did that, it laughed a twisted, high-pitched laugh like a madman.

"Damn it!" Hitsugaya swore and kicked an attacking ethereal fox away. "That thing is really dangerous _and_ insane!"

Matsumoto blinked and asked: "So it's Mayuri then?"

"Whoever this thing used to be, we have no time to deal with it!" Looking back where Suì-Feng was still facing off with the mechanic Hollow Ikkaku, the small Captain said: "I think I have an idea, but for that…"

Both jumped when the death-like Hollow appeared before them and slashed its scythe at them. Luckily Komamura was there again and grabbed the scythe before the beast could slash open Matsumoto.

"You are dealing with me!" he barked a little breathless. While holding the much smaller and thinner Hollow in check he growled: "Go, Captain Hitsugaya! I'll hold him off!"

"Thank you!" Hitsugaya called. "Matsumoto! Help Kira fencing off Ichimaru!"

"Yes Sir!"

-0-

Suì-Feng cursed under her breath. She could not use her Shikai on Ikkaku, because no matter what, he was still a fellow Shinigami who was forced against his will to fight. And killing him – she had already thought as much – would surely not cut the mustard as long as the serpent-tailed stranger was still around.

He was still facing off with Yamamoto, by the way, and effortlessly fending off the powerful Ryujin Jakka with his bare hands.

Suddenly she sensed something and cursed again for letting her guard down like that. But it was too late and a massive claw smashed her into the ground, knocking all breath out of her. And the fact that a Hollow Mask covered her mouth and nose did nothing to ease the regaining of air.

Ikkaku stared down at the fallen Ninja and lifted her up like a toy. Suì-Feng kicked effortlessly and tried to pry the pincer-like grasp of the Hollow open, but did not manage to.

Out of the corner of her eye, however, she noted that the robot-like Hollow looked around in confusion, as if he had heard something.

Then she heard it, too. Quick, light footsteps. And before she could react, Hitsugaya appeared right in front of the giant Hollow and smashed his beloved Hyorinmaru through the beast's only eye.

Screeching the huge beast let go off Suì-Feng and swayed back, allowing Hitsugaya to retrieve is sword.

"EY!" Kenpachi yelled over to him while holding off the hollowfied Unohana, "STOP POCKIN' MY PEOPLE IN THE EYE!"

"Sorry!" Hitsugaya muttered. Turning to Suì-Feng who fought herself to her feet he ignored the still screeching Hollow and asked: "Everything alright?"

"Yes, thanks to you, Captain!" she called over.

"Good!" Turning back he saw that Ikkaku had recovered from the attack and was beginning to flare up his Reiatsu.

"TARGET: LOCKED. CAPTAIN TOSHIRO HITSUGAYA. ACTIVATE BANKAI!"

Hitsugaya grabbed his sword harder and shouted: "I'll cover your back! Go and finish their boss!"

-0-

The serpent-tailed stranger swatted another blast from Ryujin Jakka away as if it was an irksome fly and not the most powerful fire Zanpakuto ever.

"I told you before, old man. Your powers are useless against me!"

"Ah yes?!" Suì-Feng suddenly cried as she appeared at the man's side. Jabbing her Zanpakuto forwards she yelled: "How about this?! Nigeki Kessatu!"

The tip of her Zanpakuto hit the mark she left on the man's body from before right in the center. Hissing at the no doubt surprised intruder she smirked: "You're dead!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

With satisfaction Suì-Feng watched the seal of Suzumebachi glowing red on contact. She had finally landed a lethal hit on the serpent-tailed stranger.

However… her face fell to horror when the seal flaked away and the man grabbed her wrist, pulling Suzumebachi away from his body.

Her breath hitched at the sight of the amused red eyes. "Dead? Me?" the man scoffed. "Don't make me laugh. Ghosts like you can never kill me."

She could feel the stranger's dark Reiatsu flaring up, trying to take control of her, but in the last moment she was saved by another powerful fire stream from her boss.

The man sighed out in frustration, swatted the fire away and said: "You are getting annoying."

Snapping his fingers he summoned the next Hollow to his side.

Suì-Feng widened her eyes at the sound of ferocious hoof beating. A building was smashed away when a Hollow pair emerged from the dust. A demonic horse-like Hollow with a knight Hollow on its back. A headless suit of knight armour to be exact.

The horse reared up and let out an ear-splitting whinnying screech. But Suì-Feng was finally fed up. "Tchh. I'm getting tired of this!" she jumped at the headless knight and drove it away from the back of its steed. "Fleeing, eh?!"

Renji appeared behind the headless monster with his Zangetsu and shouted: "I got this!" But the monster blocked his attack with a massive shield and drew its broad sword.

Rukia stopped breathing for a second before shouting: "RENJI! Get away! THAT ONE IS CAPTAIN KYORAKU!"

While Renji felt his sweat run cold at the thought of facing one of the most powerful Shinigami of Seireitei Suì-Feng had another bad idea. Grabbing the snout of the Hollow Horse she screamed: "NANAO?!"

Yamamoto growled at his adversary. "When did you corrupt them?!"

"Easy, old man" the stranger smirked, "Before I met up with you, I had some time to spare. So I got myself a few more… soldiers to keep this a little interesting" His smirk widened and he asked: "Did you not wonder where your reinforcements are? Well, I had my pets take care of them first…"

Yamamoto roared out in anger and attacked the man again. The Shinigami fighting against their own friends and an almost invincible foe, it was like a nightmare.

Sighing deep Rukia got over this in her head: "Okay, let's see… We have our General, but our foe can shrug him off. Captain Suì-Feng whose Nigeki is useless. Ichigo, who is hollowfied, but constantly fighting himself. The Captains Hitsugaya, Komamura and Zaraki, who are too busy fighting. And us others, who can not deal with a Captain-levelled Hollow. They on the other hand have their boss, who is fireproof and Suzumebachi-proof. Captains Ichimaru, Tosen, Nii-sama, Unohana and Kyoraku, who have turned into Hollows. Ikkaku, who is almost Captain level. Yumichika and Nanao, who should not be taken lightly. And the other one who is most likely a Captain himself"

Rukia glared gloomily at her Sode no Shirayuki and huffed: "We are doomed."

-oo0oo-

Meanwhile, not knowing what happened elsewhere, Momo ran towards the prison 'Maggot's Nest'. Ever since she heard the strange man's plan of taking her former Captain, she left her post at her new Captain's side and went towards the prison. Captain Kurosaki told her that he expected her to act on her own instead of simply following orders.

Momo felt somewhat stupid – and she still did – at simply running away. But if she could just make sure that nobody came to Aizen…

Suddenly she stopped and her eyes widened. She had arrived before the gates of the prison, but where she expected some hidden Ninja, she only saw unconscious Shinigami and a destroyed gate.

"Oh no!" she thought as she began to run through the long, dark hallways of the prison, spiralling down and down into the deepest bowels of the building. Everywhere was the same view: defeated Shinigami and destroyed objects. Not even the elite Ninja of Captain Suì-Feng could prevent whatever had happened here.

"Damn it!" the girl cursed under her breath, ignoring the terrified prisoners in the cells, "So here, too? Just how many allies does that guy have?!" Narrowing her eyes she crossed through the last few hallways she growled: "No matter. He wanted to free Aizen-sa… Sozuke, and I can't allow that!"

But when she stopped in front of the enforced door holding Aizen, she stopped again.

The guards were defeated and unconscious as well and the huge, massive and thick door was torn out of its hinges and hurled through the whole hallway, where it lay shattered.

And inside the dark room was Aizen, seated on his sentence chair and still bound in thick, Reiatsu-suppressing leather wraps. But his mouth and eye were uncovered again. Aizen's cold gaze wandered from the figure standing before him towards Momo and she felt a chill running down her spine.

His cold smirk returned and the figure before him turned to the girl as well. He was a tall man clothed in black trench coat, black pants and boots. Despite the fact that the upper part of his face was hidden in the shadows she could see red glowing eyes resting on her.

"Oh, I thought I had everyone here knocked down."

Smiling coldly Aizen said: "Hello Momo my dear."

Momo had to use all of her mental strength to pull herself together. Aizen was not her beloved Captain, he had abused her all the years she worked under him, abused her admiration for him and almost killed her twice. She even forced her to fight against her best friend Toshiro. No, this man was not her Captain anymore, only a prisoner. Hissing out Momo spoke with as much venom as she could manage: "Hold your tongue, prisoner!"

Obviously it surprised Aizen, and she smiled for a short moment in victory. But then her face became hard again and she pointed Tobiume at the other man in the room. "And you" she growled, "Get away from the prisoner!"

The man looked up and said: "Uhm… no" Smirking at the black-haired girl he said: "I've got an order to carry out, and the boss does not like it if his orders are not carried out."

"Then I will have to force you to leave!"

Now the man grinned, showing off a pair of pointed fangs: "Good luck trying, little girl!" Turning around he called into the darkness: "Hey! Could you kindly take care of the little girl? And make sure she doesn't hurt herself."

Momo suddenly felt a strong Reiatsu whirling up and couldn't help but jump backwards when two badly beaten and unconscious Ninja Shinigami were thrown at her feet. Then she looked up and froze again. From the darkness of the room appeared a huge bat-demon Hollow with piercing green eyes. The Reiatsu it radiated was nauseating strong.

Narrowing its green eyes the beast lunged at Hinamori.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. "Strange… my Momo-is-in-Danger senses are tingling…" A heavy clanking brought the small captain out of his daze and he escaped before a huge blade could cleave him.

"TARGET MISSED."

"Madarame…"

"TARGET RELOCATED."

Narrowing his turquoise eyes the child-Captain said: "That Zanpakuto… it's Bankai, isn't it?"

Ikkaku retaliated by coming towards his small target again.

Hitsugaya whirled around and shouted: "Everyone be careful! They may be Hollows, but they can still use Bankai!"

Ichigo swatted a massive Senbonzakura wave away using his wings and his bad side. "Believe me, Toshiro, I already noticed!"

"Oh good, you found out" the intruder said smirking, "You really are as cunning as everyone says…" Turning his attention back to the old General he continued: "Now back to us old man…"

At the sight of the old man without his Haori and shirt the serpent-tailed stranger stopped and asked. "Wow. Are you working out?"

Yamamoto felt his irritation raise and his eyebrow twitch when his foe fell into some pointless rambling. "I mean, woah! Your body is putting Arnold Schwarzenegger to shame! You would be the star on any beach in the living world! Of course if I…"

"SILENCE!" Barking at the smaller man Yamamoto asked: "What is the reason behind this?!"

"Excuse me, I got somewhat carried away" the white-haired, serpent-tailed and horned man said. Chuckling he added: "It's not everyday I meet a (at least) 2000 year-old with a body like yours."

"Why are you playing with my patience?!"

"You see, I was getting bored, old man" the man said smirking. "Pitting my creations against your Shinigami is becoming boring" Shifting his weight the man prepared to attack. "So I am ending this here and now!"

He jumped at Yamamoto. The old man reacted by throwing a powerful punch into the attacker's direction, but he was faster. Yamamoto was not a slow guy himself, though, and so he grabbed quickly after the other man and managed to hold onto his striking serpent tail. He threw his arm around to hurl the man away, but suddenly the weight was too less.

In the right moment the man had turned into a white serpent, hissing: "Nicccce try. But not niccccce enough!"

"How about this, brat?" Yamamoto snarled and disappeared from sight. The serpent fell to the ground where he transformed back.

Looking at the old man he growled: "Okay, that was unfair" Suddenly he disappeared as well and reappeared on Yamamoto's back. "Fine! Then I'll play unfair as well!"

Yamamoto and the man released their Reiatsu at the same time which led to a massive outbreak of energy, and a giant pillar of fire rose up into the sky, heating the atmosphere up to unbearable dimensions.

Out of the flames jumped a white goat, hit the ground and returned to his human shape. He widened his eyes and growled: "Tch. You got some serious mental control" Looking back to Yamamoto he let his gaze sweep over the black plates covering the general's head and shoulders. "I only made you Visored!"

Panting hard the old general somewhat dreaded the next words: "So I simply have to overpower you!" A little remorseful he looked towards his Hollows and said: "It's a shame, really, but I have to let go of the others."

Waving his hand he shouted: "GO!" and his Hollows stopped dead in whatever they were doing.

-0-

Hisagi looked confused to the serpent-tailed stranger with knitted eyebrows before turning back to his enemy: the hollowfied Yumichika.

The Hollow with the nine eyes had stopped in his advance and stared dumbfounded at Hisagi. Suddenly he shouted: "OH MY GOD! I'M WEARING NO PANTS! AND I'M HAVING CHICKEN FEET!"

"AYASEGAWA?!" Hisagi shouted surprised as well, "YOU'RE BACK?!" He was extremely irritated at the fact, that the eyes mimicked Ayasegawa's emotions even though they were on the end of four feet long feathers growing from his back. It was extremely freaky.

His attention was quickly shifted away when he heard Ikkaku's gruff voice. "Pipe down, Yumichika" the giant robot-like Hollow scolded his friend, "I have no pants either and _four_ feet."

"Yes, and you are ugly."

"UGLY?!" Ikkaku roared, ignoring the fact that he held the small Captain of the tenth division in his hand like a toy, "I'M A MEGA-COOL ROBOT THINGY!"

"U-G-L-Y!"

Hitsugaya sighed at this display of childish behaviour. Since Madarame was obviously not thinking about the small Captain in his hand, he settled with having to spend some time here dangling and looked around.

His gaze fell on the death-like Hollow standing confused in front of an equally confused Komamura. The Hollow turned, blinked at him and… smiled? Which was extremely scary due the skeletal face.

"Hello Shiro-chan!" the Hollow called out in a voice that was eerily familiar, "I was looking for you!"

Toshiro felt his jaw drop. It was not Mayuri. Worse. "UKITAKE?!"

A little further away the massive bird Hollow which was Unohana looked down and discovered: "Oh, Captain Zaraki, your Zanpakuto appears to be lodged into my chest."

Kenpachi – despite himself – felt himself somehow absolutely freaked out. He could deal with such a beast, but when it spoke with Unohana's voice and also acted like her… well, that was something that truly scared him. "Oh, yeah… Sorry 'bout that…"

"Oh Abarai-kun…" the headless suit of armour began, "Is there a chance you've seen my hat?"

"Uhmm… no, Captain Kyoraku?"

"…Is there a chance you've seen my _head_, then?

Suì-Feng blinked at that before a voice called her back: "Captain. Would it be possible for you to get off my back?"

"Oh right, sorry."

Rukia ran over to her brother. "Nii-sama!"

"Rukia? What is the meaning of this?" her brother asked in his typical way – even though he was a bird with eleven eyes and horns. "And why are my clothes torn?"

"Back to your old self?" someone asked above him. Byakuya looked up to discover the huge double-headed dragon. "Better the stuck-up Byakuya than the Hollow one."

"Kurosaki… Ichigo?" Narrowing his eyes the Hollow Byakuya scolded: "Whoever gave you the right to call me by my name? It's still 'Captain Kuchiki' to you."

Hitsugaya had meanwhile managed to get out of Ikkaku's hand and away from Ukitake. Walking over to Byakuya he looked at him and asked: "Why did he release you?"

A dire thought crossed his mind and he whirled back where the serpent-tailed man stood before a giant orb of fire. "DOES THAT MEAN?!"

"Well…" the man said smirking, "It is not what I wanted…"

A giant burning golem rose from the flames, wearing a white Captain's haori as loincloth. General-Captain Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto as Hollow.

"But this will suffice, too."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The Hollow which had been Captain-Commander Yamamoto before was truly a terrible sight. Standing at the very least 40 feet the beast was composed of what seemed like lava and hardened volcanic rocks. Flames shot out everywhere on his body as the giant slowly turned towards the petrified Shinigami.

Four eyes narrowed at the sight of the small warriors before it.

"That is not good…" Hollow Ichigo growled. Ichigo was confused. His dark side seemed to be genuinely afraid of the beast.

Then Yamamoto roared at their faces and the temperature rose again.

"Okay, we're dead. We're all dead."

"KIRA!"

Suddenly the behemoth lifted his crippled left arm – the very arm he had sacrificed to land a hit on Aizen. And much to everyone's horror the beast regenerated the missing limb as if it had never missed in the first time.

Seeing the giant, flaming beast now with all its functioning limbs (and a tail) unnerved even the usually stoic Hitsugaya. "WTF?! No way!"

Lifting his newly regenerated limb and curling the blazing talons into a fist and brought it down, bent on smashing something – someone – with his newly awakened powers.

Only he did not aim for any of the Shinigami or the hollowfied Shinigami.

"Oh bugger…" the serpent-tailed man said nonchalantly, crossed his arms and muttered: "Well. It seems as if you have more fighting spirit than I originally thought, old man."

Then the golem's fist hit him. Dust and dirt were hurled up from ground zero and flames shot up in all directions.

-0-

When the dust finally settled, the giant burning Hollow looked up. Narrowing his four blazing eyes at the sight of the mortified Shinigami and their hollowfied comrades the beast seemed to sigh out.

"Why are you children just standing there?" he suddenly asked, his voice deeper and twisted from his normal one, but unmistaken Yamamoto's. Jerking his heavy head to where the other two Hollows were he ordered: "Restrain the Traitors!"

The Hollow Fox Gin gulped notably and said: "I suggest we make a run for it."

Looking at the Shinigami turning to them, Tosen could do nothing but agree: "Agreed."

"Not… so fast…"

Startled Yamamoto looked down to his hand. There was no way the guy could have survived his attack.

But then again… his hand was shaking as if something was trying to escape from beneath it.

"I am not done yet…" the stranger's voice growled. Much to everyone's horror the giant fist was slowly pushed up - despite Yamamoto holding against it - and a pair of pale, clawed hands appeared to grab the behemoth's hand.

"That thing just now…" Suddenly the stranger straightened up and flipped the whole beast off his body, smashing the Hollow Yamamoto into an unlucky building while screaming: "…WAS NOT NICE!"

Ichigo felt his throat dry up at the sight of the man. Despite being hit by Yamamoto – who had been an incredible strong fighter before and was now a huge burning golem – there was not a single scratch on him. Only his black clothes had burnt away so only singed shreds remained behind, revealing a lot of white fur and silver scales on the man's body. And he had flipped said huge golem away as if it was the easiest thing in the world!

It was becoming clear that this man was not a normal person.

"NOW I'M PISSED!" the man shouted, "THAT COAT WAS MY FAVOURITE!"

He went down and hissed: "You have no idea what you just did. I hate being pissed!"

Slamming his hand flat onto the ground he summoned forth his powers.

"KING!" Hollow Ichigo cried out in alarm. Ichigo felt the ground beneath his feet – talons – shift and before he even knew his Hollow took over, catapulting their body into the air before wicked stone spikes – which suddenly shot out of the ground – could skewer them.

However, in the next moment the man was _above_ them. Neither Ichigo nor his bad side had seen or noticed him move. But he was suddenly above him and slammed the poor hollowfied ex-Substitute Shinigami and now Captain so hard, that Ichigo went down right away. The rims of his vision began to blacken and his Hollow Side was not moving at all.

"Impossible!" the strawberry thought while his mind became sluggish and everything darkened around him. "One hit…?!"

The last thing he noticed was the stranger suddenly appearing on Yumichika's side and smashing him violently into a wall.

"Two down…" he snarled, "Seventeen to go!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

In the end, Momo wasn't so sure what exactly woke her up from the darkness. The only thing she knew was that she was high above Seireitei. In the maws of a giant bat-demon-Hollow.

"AAAAAAAAH!" she screamed and began to squirm. But the Hollow merely glared at her with piercing green eyes and held her firmly in its jaws. No matter how much Momo fought, she could not escape the bat's grasp.

"Hey, you are awake!" a voice called out to her and attracted her attention. Over the shoulder of the bat she saw a man with tousled, long grey-blue hair, which was put in a braid and slung once over his neck and chest. He had also a shaggy goatee and the typical Hollow eyes. Black sclera and blood red iris. But she did not see any Hollow hole, only a scar on the left side of his chest. His black coat flapped wildly in the draft of the bat's flight.

Momo did not know what to expect, but she surely did not expect him to smile broadly. "Slept well?" he asked sweetly, so sweetly that one would have died on sugar overdose.

Ignoring the obvious cheerfulness, Hinamori narrowed her eyes and hissed: "Who are you?!"

"Oh, my name's Reiko" the man exclaimed grinning. "I'm my boss' right hand."

For a while they were silent. Momo did not see her ex-Captain Aizen anywhere, but he too must've been with them, since their flight took them to where the others fought this Reiko person's boss – and he was after Aizen after all! Suddenly Momo widened her eyes at the sight of the amount of destruction underneath them. Something big had happened here.

"What… what happened?!" she found herself cry out. Suddenly there was a terrible fear in her chest. What had happened to the others? And especially to her Shiro-chan?

The man whistled and said: "Wow! Look at that! Seems as if my boss had a good time!" Smirking he added: "But your friends didn't have a good time too."

The bat Hollow swooped down and Momo saw horrified her friends and comrades lying between terrible Hollows unlike she had ever seen. All of them were looking beaten and unconscious.

"What… what happened?!" she cried out again, "These Hollows… did they fight against my friends?"

"Better!" Reiko exclaimed happily, "They are your friends!"

"WHAT?!"

But before she could really comprehend the words, Reiko said: "Hey, land over there at the hole in the ground."

"Understood" the bat said with a surprisingly soft voice.

"And set the girl down, will you?"

After landing the beast put Momo almost cautious down. But when she stood on her – albeit shaky – legs, she discovered something and felt her heart stop for a second. There, on the bottom of a small crater, was her unconscious Captain. And beneath him… "TOSHIRO!"

Momo raced away from the bat Hollow and slid down the crater, shouting: "CAPTAIN KUROSAKI! MATSUMOTO! TOSHIRO!"

"Gngn…" Hitsugaya groaned, not realising that he lay under his vice Captain. Matsumoto had shielded her Captain with her own body when Ichigo had smashed onto them.

"TOSHIRO!" Momo cried and ran over to her childhood friend, kneeling down next to him.

"Ugh… did someone get the number of that dragon that fell on me…?" Hitsugaya groaned.

"I already changed back…" Ichigo slurred.

"Toshiro" Momo called out again, "Is everything alright?"

"Momo?" Hitsugaya asked.

Up on the edge of the crater was Reiko standing, watching the girl helping her childhood friend back to his feet. Crossing his arms he said smiling: "Ah, isn't that sweet?"

"Reiko" a melodious voice called out to him and the man shifted his head to the source. His boss sat on the beaten and now only smoldering Hollow Yamamoto. "Do you have Sozuke?"

At that Reiko reacted absolutely unexpected. Dragging Aizen next to him he smiled broadly – which reminded the strawberry blonde Captain on a certain shop owner – and said: "I have one 'Aizen', slightly used but still in good shape and wrapped up for freshness. Act now and get this 'Aizen' for free! Caution: 'Aizen' may contain a huge Ego and God Complex and may be harmful for your health. In case of Mind Rape, call your doctor."

His boss stared at him without batting an eye. "Stop sounding like a mortal and insane Salesman, Reiko. Unwrap him."

"Okay!"

While everyone that was somewhat conscious – and that were not really many – wondered, whether this newly arrived guy was an idiot, Gin asked: "Waitwaitwait… we already got Aizen?"

"Yes."

"But I thought we were gonna fight our way clear to get 'im? That's why ya turned the others inta Hollows, or so I thought!"

Shrugging his shoulders the man explained: "Never heard of a distraction, Ichimaru, have you? I decided to act as the distraction so Reiko could get Aizen unhindered." Smirking evilly he added: "And I wanted to have some fun, too."

"Oh, okay."

Turning back to where his servant was kneeling and – unsuccessfully – trying to open up Aizen's bonds, he said: "Free him, Reiko."

"I'm trying, Boss… but this knot is getting worse by the…"

Suddenly there was an unearthly gust of wind and Aizen was gone.

Confused and slightly embarrassed Reiko turned and stuttered: "Uh… Boss?"

Sighing out the serpent-tailed man said: "Yeah, I already noticed."

A bit further away were Ichigo and Hollow Byakuya standing. They had Aizen in between them, secured so he would not get away. Somewhat dishevelled the former enemy muttered: "Well… I did not count on that…"

"We will not let you get him. No matter what!" Ichigo growled angrily, shaking off the feeling that he knew this Reiko person from somewhere. "We fought hard to stop him."

"I am still here, Kurosaki" Aizen grumbled, "Do not talk about me if I weren't."

"Shut up" Ichigo barked. Glaring at the black-clad man he growled: "Who are you?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Who are you?"

The man called Reiko sighed out and huffed: "You are sounding like a broken record by now. The boss has got goat horns and hooves, is fire-proof and has corruption powers – I thought you would have figured it out!"

Pointing Zangetsu at the man Ichigo shouted: "Not him! You!"

"Oh" But what the man said afterwards made a really cold shower run down Ichigo's spine and shocked him thoroughly. "Well, besides running around and assaulting people with oversized kitchen knives, I do hope you found enough time to study for the next test."

Ichigo gasped sharply and paled until he was paler than Ukitake's or Hitsugaya's hair. And Byakuya did not help either. "He's… your _Math teacher_?"

"I noticed…"

Luckily the next words raised the strawberry's mood again. "Teacher or not. If he is with our enemy, he is the enemy as well."

"_Sweet."_

Seeing Ichigo raising his sword, Reiko _Hiwatari _said: "Attacking your teacher with an oversized kitchen knife won't be helpful for your final grade, you know, Mr. Kurosaki."

Jumping at his math teacher – Ichigo always knew that math teachers were evil anyways – he shouted: "SHUT UP!"

However, before he even reached him, a huge shadow fell on him. Ichigo could only scream out in pain and surprise when a huge talon smashed down on him, pinning the Shinigami to the ground. Looking up Ichigo recognised the giant bat Hollow Reiko brought with him.

He got another shock when the beast suddenly spoke: "You are still pathetic. Still unable to evade an attack as obvious as now… I had expected you to have become better. After all, you defeated me."

"Hold on… ULQUIORRA?!"

Before he could really realise who held him captive, they heard another voice. It was Hitsugaya who had stepped up to take Ichigo's place next to Byakuya. Both held their Zanpakuto to Aizen's neck, threatening to end his life right away.

"HOLLOW!" Hitsugaya yelled, "Release Kurosaki, or we will kill Sozuke Aizen!"

-0-

Quirking an eyebrow the serpent-tailed goat man asked: "So, uh… do we have to do that again? I mean, get serious, people. I sealed off all your Bankai with a mere snap of my fingers, transformed and corrupted some of you into Hollows with a touch and beat all of you in under _five_ friggin' minutes and you _still dare to oppose me_?!"

Aizen smirked: "He has a good point, you know?"

"Shut it!"

"Besides, Aizen is immortal. And even if you could somehow kill him, I can still bring him back. Gin and Tosen were dead as well" the man carried on. His red eyes turned colder than Hitsugaya's ice when he added: "I am giving you one last chance. Hand over Aizen and I will retreat and never return again. Otherwise I simply destroy all of you…"

"Uh Boss?" Reiko began, "Why don't you simply _take_ Aizen?"

"Even Better!"

Suddenly he disappeared only to appear right behind Byakuya, Hitsugaya and Aizen, smirking: "You heard that man."

Before the Shinigami – hollowfied or not – could do anything, he smashed down a white mask onto the traitor's head, claiming: "Got you!"

Black tendrils shot out all around Aizen, forming something like hands and latched onto Hitsugaya and Byakuya. They had no time to react before Aizen hurled them far away from himself and his new master. Ichigo gasped from underneath Ulquiorra's talon at the sight of the creature. Aizen had turned into a black, formless mass. Only the white mask and a brown tuft of hair behind that indicated where his head was.

"Oh? A Liquid Shadow?" the white-furred man asked surprised, "I had hoped to get something more… solid…" His smirk returned as he went over to the shapeless creature: "But no matter. This has its advantages as well. Let's get you home and see how to get you a little more solid."

With that Ichigo breathed out in relieve when Ulquiorra stepped off him. And the man's next words sounded like music to his ears. "That's it. We have what we came here. Let's go back."

"Ohhhh."

"Already?"

With a single flip of his finger the man opened up a Garganta-like tear in space. However, before they could disappear, Rukia had fought herself back to her feet and ran after them, yelling: "WAIT!"

Reiko turned slightly and waited for the girl to catch up.

"What about Nii-sama and the others? They can't stay as Hollows!"

"Ah, don't worry 'bout that" Reiko said grinning, "That should wear off soon. Two or three days and they should be back to their old and boring selves."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The sun was already rising up when Ichigo, Orihime and Chad went through the halls of their school.

"Hollows?" Orihime asked dumbfounded, "They were turned into Hollows?"

"Yeah, and weird-looking ones, too." Ichigo explained. Looking forwards he continued: "I wanted to stay a bit to make sure that they adapt to this… situation until they change back. Surprisingly they are doing well. Most of them anyways. But Mayuri took a weird… interest in them…"

Orihime shuddered at that thought.

"But on the bright side…" Ichigo began smiling, "We won't be needing to do that test today!"

But as soon as he opened the door to their classroom, he was greeted with a: "And again you are wrong, Mr. Kurosaki!"

His blood ran cold and his anger welled up when he recognised his math teacher and the servant of that strange goat-horned man sitting there as usual. Only now did Ichigo realise that his long grey hair was hidden underneath his jacket and his black and red eyes behind the reflective glasses.

He caught a glimpse of the blood red eyes when his teacher said: "I hope you know that this test is vital, Mr. Kurosaki…"

"You…" Ichigo hissed with as much venom as he could manage. He was already preparing to jump out of his body and attack the man, but Reiko held him back with an icy smirk.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you… Look over there."

In that moment a shadow fell into the room. Ichigo, Orihime, Chad and a few other class members gasped out in shock at the sight of a green-eyed giant bat Hollow. The strawberry was a little happy that most of his schoolmates could not see the beast.

Nevertheless most of the ones that could see Ulquiorra screamed out in panic, leaving the rest of their classmates extremely confused.

This could turn into something… Ichigo thought dryly.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Well, that's it. A short, hopefully entertaining FF. Hope ya all enjoyed it ^^

If you want to read the comic variant, look for DragonlordRynn at Deviantart!


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